474 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



how well worth while it would be to establish sanctuaries even 

 if there were no other people to enjoy the benefits. Yet the 

 strongest of all arguments is that sanctuaries, far from con- 

 flicting with other interests, actually further them. But unless 

 we make these sanctuaries soon we shall be infamous forever, as 

 the one generation which defrauded posterity of all the pre- 

 servable wild life that Nature took millions of years to evolve 

 into its present beautiful perfection. Only a certain amount of 

 animal life can exist in a certain area. The surplus must go 

 outside. So sanctuaries are more than wild " zoos " : they are 

 overflowing reservoirs, fed by their own springs and feeding 

 streams of life at every outlet. They serve not only those 

 interested in animal life but those legitimately interested in 

 animal death, for business, sport or food. I might mention 

 many instances of successful sanctuaries, permanent or tem- 

 porary, absolute or modified — the Algonquin, Rocky Mountains, 

 Yoho, Glacier, Jasper and Laurentides in Canada ; the Yellow- 

 stone, Yosemite, Grand Canon, Olympus and Superior in the 

 United States ; also the sea-lions of California, the wonderful 

 revival of ibex in Spain and deer in Maine and New Brunswick, 

 the great preserves in Uganda, India and Ceylon, the selective 

 work of Baron von Berlepsch in Germany, the curious result of 

 taboo protection up the Nelson river and the effects on seafowl 

 in cases as far apart in time and space as the guano islands 

 under the Incas of Peru, Gardiner Island in the United States or 

 the Bass Rock off the coast of Scotland. 



Yet I do not ignore the difficulties. First, there is the 

 universal difficulty of introducing or enforcing laws where there 

 have been no operative laws before. Next, there is the diffi- 

 culty of arousing public opinion on any subject, however 

 worthy, which requires both insight and foresight. Then we 

 must remember that protected species increasing beyond their 

 special means of subsistence have to seek other kinds of food, 

 sometimes with unfortunate results. And then there are the 

 several special difficulties connected with Labrador. There 

 are three British governments concerned — Newfoundland, the 

 Dominion and the province of Quebec. There are French and 

 American fishermen along the shore. The proper protection of 

 some migratory species will require co-operation with the 

 United States, perhaps with Mexico and South America for 

 certain birds and even with Denmark for the Greenland seal. 



